pristine-skill
An agent skill enforcing the First-Time Principle: write every change in its final form — no patches, no what-comments, no leftovers, no local/deployed drift…
Install with your AI
Paste into Claude Code, Cursor, or any agent — it reads the repo and wires the tool into your project.
Install and set up pristine-skill (claude-skill project) into my current project. Found on https://claudeers.com/pristine-skill Repo: https://github.com/newbanser/pristine-skill Homepage/docs: — Detected install method: claude-skill → # copy this skill into .claude/skills/pristine-skill/ Category: skills. Platforms: cli. Read the repo's README for exact setup and env vars, then install it and wire it into my project. Claudeers Health Verdict: active; community-verified: false. Confirm the source before running anything.
# copy the skill dir into your project: # .claude/skills/pristine-skill/ (or ~/.claude/skills/pristine-skill/ for all projects)
git clone https://github.com/newbanser/pristine-skill
// compatibility
| Platforms | cli |
|---|---|
| Operating systems | — |
| AI compatibility | claude |
| License | MIT |
| Pricing | open-source |
| Language | JavaScript |
Pristine
Write everything as if it were being written for the first time.
A cross-platform agent skill that enforces the First-Time Principle — the discipline of landing every change in its final form: no patches, no "what"-comments, no leftovers, no local/deployed drift.
Works with Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, OpenCode, and OpenClaw (open Agent Skill format).
Why
In AI-assisted development, patches compound differently than in human-only teams:
- Code is rewritten often, but docs and memory are the only bridge across sessions — a stale note makes the next agent decide on a false premise.
- Agents read the whole file, not a diff — every leftover special case dilutes the signal of the real design.
- A patch that "works" is the easiest thing to reproduce, because it requires the least understanding. Each round of patching teaches the next session to patch.
Pristine is the counterweight: each change, made as if for the first time, keeps the system evolving toward clarity instead of entropy.
The four laws
| Law | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No patching | Fix the root cause, not the symptom. No if special cases, no copied-and-tweaked logic, no switches that route around a problem. Rewrite when the patch pile is worse than a clean rewrite. |
| Code explains itself | Names carry the "what". Comments only say "why": business rules, constraints, history traps. No explanatory comments, no commented-out code blocks. |
| No residue | No backups, drafts, dead code, or intermediate states. Superseded rules are updated in place, never appended as "as of…" notes. |
| Deployment parity | What runs in production is exactly what was reviewed locally. No remote-only quick fixes — the repo must keep representing reality. |
| Session cost | A session that grows without bound is the same entropy as a file that grows without bound. Around 15 turns, propose a reset. |
Install
Copy SKILL.md into your agent's skills directory:
# Claude Code
mkdir -p .claude/skills/pristine
cp SKILL.md .claude/skills/pristine/
# OpenAI Codex
mkdir -p .agents/skills/pristine
cp SKILL.md .agents/skills/pristine/
# OpenCode
mkdir -p .opencode/skills/pristine
cp SKILL.md .opencode/skills/pristine/
Usage
The skill activates automatically when you start implementation, refactor, or bug-fix work, and whenever the "just patch it" urge appears. You can also invoke it by name:
pristine— the formal name ("we work in pristine mode")virgin/first-time— aliases, recognized semantically via the skill description
Session watch (optional companion)
scripts/session-watch.js enforces the 15-turn
rule mechanically: it counts user turns in the current session and prints a
reminder when the threshold is crossed. Wire it as a Claude Code Stop hook:
"hooks": { "Stop": [ { "matcher": "", "hooks": [ { "type": "command",
"command": "node /path/to/scripts/session-watch.js --threshold 15" } ] } ] }
The script reads the session transcript path from the hook's stdin — no session discovery, no hardcoded paths, exit code always 0 (a reminder, not a gate).
Examples
See examples/before-after.md for patch-instinct vs. first-time-move side-by-side comparisons.
License
MIT © 2026
// faq
What is pristine-skill?
An agent skill enforcing the First-Time Principle: write every change in its final form — no patches, no what-comments, no leftovers, no local/deployed drift. Cross-platform: Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode.. It is open-source on GitHub.
Is pristine-skill free to use?
pristine-skill is open-source under the MIT license, so it is free to use.
What category does pristine-skill belong to?
pristine-skill is listed under skills in the Claudeers registry of Claude-compatible tools.
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